An Achilles' heel of Subaru engines has always been their oiling systems. Inadequate oiling can lead to premature and sometimes catastrophic engine failure. There are a variety of factors which contribute to the tendency of these engines to starve of oil. First, the flat design of the boxer engine makes it harder for oil to return to the sump from the cylinder heads. This is especially true under high-g situations, where the oil is forced out into the heads and has trouble overcoming these forces, leading to possible aeration if the pickup becomes uncovered. The next most common issue is the OE oil pickup itself. The Subaru EJ Oil pickups are known to crack and break, leading to oil starvation. On the Subaru FA series engines the pickup screens can become dislodged, impeding flow or introducing debris into the engine’s oil galleries.
THE EJ ENGINE OIL PICKUP
At IAG we love to solve problems. When approaching the common oiling issues with Subaru engines we thought it would be best to start with the oil pickups. After all, the pickup is what feeds the oil to the rest of the engine. If the pickup is inadequate or fails, the engine will fail as well. With this in mind, we developed our EJ Engine Oil Pickup. This pickup features 100% stainless steel construction, a high strength strainer element, larger diameter and thicker tubing, and a robust bracket to ensure that no failures will occur due to vibration or other forces.
Click here to check out our EJ Oil Pickups and Oil Pan Packages-
THE FA ENGINE OIL PICKUPS
With the success of our EJ engine oil pickup we also wanted to address the issues found in the OE FA engine oil pickups. The FA series engines, found in the 2015-2021 WRX and 2013-21 Subaru BRZ/ Toyota 86 are prone to the same types of failures as their EJ brothers. The design of the oil pickup is different from the EJ engines, but still exhibits similar issues. With this oil pickup we chose to engineer a cast stainless housing, enabling us to achieve the geometry required for optimal flow. As a part of that housing, we integrated a new oil strainer screen that is sandwiched between the two pieces of the housing, rather than tack welded like the OE units. This greatly increased the strength of the screen element to avoid the common issue of the screens cracking or failing. In addition to the custom housing, the pickups feature larger diameter, thicker stainless steel tubing. Each pickup is hand TIG welded to ensure the highest quality.
Check out our new FA20F Oil Pickups, click here-
PROVEN PERFORMANCE
While all of this sounds great, the real question is “How do these pickups perform?” We set out to design a series of tests to prove the performance claims made above so that you can rest assured in your purchase of the best Subaru engine oil pickups on the market. We’ll outline the test below and provide the data that proves these claims.
Click here to view the new FA20D Oil Pickup-
THE SETUP
In order to test these pickups, we utilized our in-house Spintron combustion-less engine testing machine. This machine is basically a large electric motor attached to the back of a test engine and used to drive the engine without running the engine. This highly specialized piece of equipment allows precise control of engine rpm to ensure accurate and repeatable results.
The Spintron engines are outfitted with a variety of sensors including pressure sensors on the main oil gallery, oil pump outlet, and oil pump inlet. Additionally, a liquid flow turbine was used to measure oil flow quantity, along with a thermocouple to measure oil temperature. Using these sensors we set out to record the following data at various RPMs, while maintaining consistency between tests to eliminate variables such as temperature changes. The sensors were sampled at a rate of 205 samples per second recorded to 12 positions behind the decimal point. Once the engine stabilized, 3 seconds (615 samples) of data was used to create an average data point at each 500 RPM increment.
We compared the IAG pickup to the OE Subaru pickup (FHI) in each test. We also tested a popular competitor’s pickups alongside the EJ and WRX models to see how they compared.
THE RESULTS - FA20 WRX
While there was no major difference between FHI and IAG over the average gallery pressure of all the rpm test points, we did observe an increase of 2.7% more pressure at 1500 rpm. This increase will assist the AVCS system in working more reliably as the AVCS system needs as much oil pressure as it can get to help return the cam sprocket at low RPM. The competitor’s pickup averaged 2.3% less main gallery oil pressure when compared to FHI.
Significantly less suction was required to flow the same amount of oil as the OE pickup. This indicates that the oil flow is limited by something upstream of the pickup. Also any reduction in suction pressure is a benefit because cavitation occurs when the fluid pressure drops under the fluid vapor pressure of the fluid in question, which also changes based on the temperature. Since the temperature was constant, using the same fluid through the tests, we can categorically state that the pickups with less suction pressure are less likely to induce cavitation due to the higher inlet pressure / lower inlet pressure drop.
While there was no major difference between FHI and IAG over the average gallery pressure of all the rpm test points, we did observe an increase of 2.7% more pressure at 1500 rpm. This increase will assist the AVCS system in working more reliably as the AVCS system needs as much oil pressure as it can get to help return the cam sprocket at low RPM. The competitor’s pickup averaged 2.3% less main gallery oil pressure when compared to FHI.
Significantly less suction was required to flow the same amount of oil as the OE pickup. This indicates that the oil flow is limited by something upstream of the pickup. Also any reduction in suction pressure is a benefit because cavitation occurs when the fluid pressure drops under the fluid vapor pressure of the fluid in question, which also changes based on the temperature. Since the temperature was constant, using the same fluid through the tests, we can categorically state that the pickups with less suction pressure are less likely to induce cavitation due to the higher inlet pressure / lower inlet pressure drop.
While there was no major difference between FHI and IAG over the average gallery pressure of all the rpm test points, we did observe an increase of 2.7% more pressure at 1500 rpm. This increase will assist the AVCS system in working more reliably as the AVCS system needs as much oil pressure as it can get to help return the cam sprocket at low RPM. The competitor’s pickup averaged 2.3% less main gallery oil pressure when compared to FHI.
Significantly less suction was required to flow the same amount of oil as the OE pickup. This indicates that the oil flow is limited by something upstream of the pickup. Also any reduction in suction pressure is a benefit because cavitation occurs when the fluid pressure drops under the fluid vapor pressure of the fluid in question, which also changes based on the temperature. Since the temperature was constant, using the same fluid through the tests, we can categorically state that the pickups with less suction pressure are less likely to induce cavitation due to the higher inlet pressure / lower inlet pressure drop.
THE RESULTS - FA20 BRZ
The IAG BRZ pickup flowed on average .84% more oil volume resulting in an average increase in gallery oil pressure of 2.08% when compared to FHI. It's interesting that an average of 17% less suction was needed at the pump inlet to flow MORE oil. That indicates that the FHI pickup was a restriction and an improvement was made with the IAG pickup design. Also any reduction in suction pressure is a benefit because cavitation occurs when the fluid pressure drops under the fluid vapor pressure of the fluid in question, which also changes based on the temperature. Since the temperature was constant, using the same fluid through the tests, we can categorically state that the pickups with less suction pressure are less likely to induce cavitation due to the higher inlet pressure / lower inlet pressure drop.
The IAG BRZ pickup flowed on average .84% more oil volume resulting in an average increase in gallery oil pressure of 2.08% when compared to FHI. It's interesting that an average of 17% less suction was needed at the pump inlet to flow MORE oil. That indicates that the FHI pickup was a restriction and an improvement was made with the IAG pickup design. Also any reduction in suction pressure is a benefit because cavitation occurs when the fluid pressure drops under the fluid vapor pressure of the fluid in question, which also changes based on the temperature. Since the temperature was constant, using the same fluid through the tests, we can categorically state that the pickups with less suction pressure are less likely to induce cavitation due to the higher inlet pressure / lower inlet pressure drop.
The IAG BRZ pickup flowed on average .84% more oil volume resulting in an average increase in gallery oil pressure of 2.08% when compared to FHI. It's interesting that an average of 17% less suction was needed at the pump inlet to flow MORE oil. That indicates that the FHI pickup was a restriction and an improvement was made with the IAG pickup design. Also any reduction in suction pressure is a benefit because cavitation occurs when the fluid pressure drops under the fluid vapor pressure of the fluid in question, which also changes based on the temperature. Since the temperature was constant, using the same fluid through the tests, we can categorically state that the pickups with less suction pressure are less likely to induce cavitation due to the higher inlet pressure / lower inlet pressure drop.
THE RESULTS - EJ25
The IAG pickup flowed an average of 2.29% more oil resulting in an increase of an average of 4.28% more gallery pressure all while having an average of 25.6% less suction needed. These are huge improvements over FHI. It's interesting how much less suction was needed at the pump inlet to flow MORE oil. That indicates to me that the FHI pickup was a restriction and an improvement was made with the IAG pickup design. Also, any reduction in suction pressure is a benefit because cavitation occurs when the fluid pressure drops under the fluid vapor pressure of the fluid in question, which also changes based on the temperature. Since the temperature was constant, using the same fluid through the tests, we can categorically state that the pickups with less suction pressure are less likely to induce cavitation due to the higher inlet pressure / lower inlet pressure drop. The Competitor’s pickup had made no notable flow or pressure improvement over FHI.
The IAG pickup flowed an average of 2.29% more oil resulting in an increase of an average of 4.28% more gallery pressure all while having an average of 25.6% less suction needed. These are huge improvements over FHI. It's interesting how much less suction was needed at the pump inlet to flow MORE oil. That indicates to me that the FHI pickup was a restriction and an improvement was made with the IAG pickup design. Also, any reduction in suction pressure is a benefit because cavitation occurs when the fluid pressure drops under the fluid vapor pressure of the fluid in question, which also changes based on the temperature. Since the temperature was constant, using the same fluid through the tests, we can categorically state that the pickups with less suction pressure are less likely to induce cavitation due to the higher inlet pressure / lower inlet pressure drop. The Competitor’s pickup had made no notable flow or pressure improvement over FHI.
The IAG pickup flowed an average of 2.29% more oil resulting in an increase of an average of 4.28% more gallery pressure all while having an average of 25.6% less suction needed. These are huge improvements over FHI. It's interesting how much less suction was needed at the pump inlet to flow MORE oil. That indicates to me that the FHI pickup was a restriction and an improvement was made with the IAG pickup design. Also, any reduction in suction pressure is a benefit because cavitation occurs when the fluid pressure drops under the fluid vapor pressure of the fluid in question, which also changes based on the temperature. Since the temperature was constant, using the same fluid through the tests, we can categorically state that the pickups with less suction pressure are less likely to induce cavitation due to the higher inlet pressure / lower inlet pressure drop. The Competitor’s pickup had made no notable flow or pressure improvement over FHI.
Backed by our thorough testing, we’re confident that IAG Performance Oil Pickups lead the market in performance. Our design delivers clear improvements in oil flow and durability, directly tackling the issues typical of OEM pickups.For maintaining peak engine performance, our solution is your best bet. Have questions? Reach out to us at 1(410)840-3555 or email us at sales@iagperformance.com. We're ready to help you get the most out of your Subaru.